Bromley might not be fancy, but we love it anyway

When you think of Charles Darwin’s or David Bowie’s place of birth, you would probably expect a picturesque little town in the countryside. Unfortunately Bromley is far from that and its definitely not the centre of culture or sophistication. But if you ever meet someone else who reps the BR postcode, you will instantly bond over what it was like growing up there. Here’s why.

You’re only 17 minutes away from London

On the rare occasion that SouthEastern aren’t being a liability by delaying or cancelling your train, you can get into London Victoria in 17 minutes from Bromley South. Also if one station wasn’t enough, you could take the slightly longer route to Charing Cross on the little shuttle train from Bromley North. Due to the extortionately expensive prices, some of my friends still got child tickets until very recently (I guess it becomes less convincing when you have a fully grown beard). Finally, there are even plans for a Bakerloo line extension, but those aren’t going to go ahead until 2040.

Who needs Oxford Street when you have the Glades?

Although it has been renamed to “Intu Bromley”, it will always be known as “The Glades” to the locals. Inside the marble shopping centre you have a shop for every need – you know your town has made it when it has an Apple store. As a child you were probably confused as to how both of the entrances to the mall were on different floors and the most exciting event to take place in Bromley was when the new three-storey Primark superstore opened. It was a gift from the gods and every Bromley gal’s dream.

You have the London or Kent debate too many times

Because Bromley sits really awkwardly on the edge of London and Kent,  you’ve often been told that it’s in Kent. But you’re tired of hearing this. It’s not the countryside, we still have red buses and its zone 4. We’re in Greater London!

We like to party so we don’t mind going into the depths of Kent for a night out

Have you ever heard of a decent club in Bromley? Exactly, there isn’t one. Rumour and Biba don’t count because they are literally one room with awful chart music. Anyone with a living room and some speakers could host a better night. Bromley girls are party animals that wouldn’t mind getting a £40 taxi to Gallery in Maidstone or worse, Zens in Dartford. Back in 6th form, Tiger Thursdays were always a must and if you were feeling really brave, you might have ventured into the rowdy  Venue on a Saturday night. For special occasions, we’d even travel up to Essex to go to Faces and Sugarhut.

All the buses in the South East go through Bromley

Although most people have cars, you really don’t need one when living in Bromley. There are over 20 buses that operate in the area with two night buses that go directly from Oxford Circus and Trafalgar Square. Who needs an Uber when you can just catch the N47.

Everyone loved the Churchill gardens when they were younger

Whenever you decided to meet up with a group of friends , you would always end up at Churchill gardens. The stagnant pond with dead fish wasn’t exactly a pleasant sight, so most youths would end up at the playground and take cringe photos. If you were ever into the whole “scene kid” thing, you probably spent a lot of time at the skate park.

David Bowie grew up here

Bromley produced the biggest star of them all.

You know that it’s not super fancy, but you love it anyway

It’s the only place where someone would pull out a machete to fight over a shoe in Footlocker. Despite its faults,  Bromley is still one of the most interesting and fun places to live in the UK and, frankly, we wouldn’t change a thing.